Three-wheeled farm vehicles are well known in the art, the most common being the three-wheel type tractor, which is an engine driven tricycle designed to tow various types of farm equipment. More specifically, the rear wheels are driven to propel the vehicle and the front wheel is pivoted for steering. In most farm tractors the operator sits on a seat between the front and rear wheels and is elevated sufficiently to have a good view in all directions.
The three-wheel tractor design is sometimes also found in vehicles for carrying farm equipment such as sprayers, fertilizer spreaders, seeders and the like. The basic modification is to elongate the frame, providing a space for the equipment behind the operator's seat.
Although such vehicles have been advantageously utilized in farming operations on a large scale basis, they suffer from various drawbacks in particular applications. Since only the front wheel is steerable, the turning radius of such a vehicle, especially if the frame is elongated for carrying equipment, is comparatively large, making the vehicle cumbersome in orchards where the spacing between adjacent trees or the ends of the rows is small and the vehicle is required to perform tight maneuvers. A number of backing and turning operations must often be performed to turn such a vehicle around in close quarters, thus unnecessarily prolonging the required time.
Yet another drawback of conventional three-wheel farm vehicles, particularly in fruit farming, is the position of the operator's seat. In order to provide visibility, the seat position must be relatively high. In many instances, however, the outwardly extending branches of fruit trees are at the height and in the path of the operator. As a result the operator is constantly engaged in trying to avoid the branches, often to the detriment of the job to be performed. Enclosing the seat with a cab to provide operator protection further increases the height of the vehicle, thereby damaging branches coming into engagement with the cab and dislodging fruit carried on the branches so that the fruit drops to the ground and is wasted.
There is, in other words, considerable room for improvement.